Off the Block establishes new coaching award in honor of former EIVA commissioner

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There will be a new annual honor for college men’s volleyball coaches.

Off the Block announced Sunday that starting this year it will annually present the Ivan Marquez Award.

The Ivan Marquez Award is given to the NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball head coach who best leads their team through off-court or on-court adversity to meet or exceed preseason expectations.

While there are other national coaching honors in college men’s volleyball such as the National Coach of the Year, this is the first coaching award specifically created to recognize overcoming challenges to be successful on the court.

The award is named in honor of former EIVA executive director and Concordia-New York coach Ivan Marquez.

Marquez early in his 15-year tenure as the EIVA commissioner was diagnosed with Stage 4 prostate cancer and continued to oversee the conference while receiving regular treatments. He stepped down in 2018 leaving a legacy of transforming the conference into its modern-day form and helping grow college men’s volleyball throughout the East Coast.

Before becoming the commissioner, Marquez was the men’s volleyball head coach for Concordia and helped turn the NCAA Division II program into an annual contender for the EIVA championship by the late-1990s. The EIVA Hall of Famer also served as the Concordia athletics director from 1996 to 2016 and was the recipient of the NCAA Division II Under Armour Athletic Director of the Year in 2017.

Marquez began his volleyball coaching career as a graduate assistant coach with the USC women’s volleyball team in 1982.

The Off the Block staff will determine the winner of the Ivan Marquez Award. The annual winner will be unveiled in late-May following the conclusion of the NCAA Tournament at the beginning of the month.

The inaugural winner of the Ivan Marquez Award will be announced Tuesday, May 21 on the Off the Block website.

Off the Block is a national award winning website that was established in 2011 and is the nation’s leader in college men’s volleyball coverage.

Along with the Ivan Marquez Award, Off the Block annually presents several college men’s volleyball national honors to recognize outstanding individual performances throughout the season.